By Stephen Simon
At least 11,040 Nigerian nationals submitted applications for international protection in Ireland between 2013 and 2025, accounting for 13.69 per cent of the 80,656 total asylum cases received by the European nation over the period.
The figures were drawn from 13 editions of the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) Ireland country reports published by the Irish Refugee Council in coordination with the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), incorporating data from Ireland’s International Protection Office (IPO), the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC), and Eurostat.
According to the reports, application volumes from Nigeria fluctuated dramatically across the 13-year period. Year-on-year breakdowns showed 130 applicants in 2013, 85 in the first seven months of 2015, 175 in 2016, 185 in 2017, 251 in 2018, and 386 in 2019. After dipping to 208 during the pandemic year in 2020, applicant numbers rose to 451 in 2021 before surging sharply to 1,108 in 2022, 2,084 in 2023, and peaking at 4,037 in 2024—where Nigerians accounted for 21.7 per cent of all foreign applicants in Ireland. In 2025, Nigerian applications stood at 1,940, representing 14.75 per cent of the country’s total caseload.
Nigeria consistently led or featured prominently among African nationalities seeking asylum in Ireland, followed by Somalia (at least 6,514 applicants), Zimbabwe (4,063), Algeria (3,397), and South Africa (1,569). Together, these five African nations accounted for at least 26,583 applications.
However, the surge in applications has coincided with stringent fast-track procedures and exceptionally high refusal rates. While Nigerian applicants faced rejection rates above 94 per cent in the mid-2010s, rates briefly dropped in 2021 when 65.7 per cent of decided cases were granted humanitarian permission to remain.
Since April 2024, Ireland’s International Protection Office instituted a policy prioritizing and accelerating applications from the top origin countries, placing Nigerian nationals under fast-tracked scrutiny. The policy—supported by a Court of Justice of the European Union precedent allowing appeals in prioritized cases to be decided on paper without oral hearings—resulted in swift processing times and overwhelming rejections.
Throughout 2025, 4,747 cases were processed under the accelerated procedure, with Nigeria topping the list. Of the 5,040 decisions issued under the fast-track scheme in 2025, 4,712—roughly 93.5 per cent—were rejected on merit.
Despite the high rate of refusals and rapid processing, Ireland’s Department of Justice reported that 6,255 Nigerians remain in the backlog awaiting a decision on their asylum claims in 2025, more than double the 2,819 pending cases recorded in 2024.
